Phonograph records have traditionally been kept in open ended cardboard sleeves. Often a protective paper sleeve has been inserted within the cardboard sleeve to increase protection. Due to the greater expense, longer life, and increased capacity of recording discs over conventional records, a more substantial enclosure is needed.
Video disc enclosures are known in the art, such as the enclosures disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,084,691; 4,084,694; and 4,463,849. These enclosures typically employ removable sleeves to support the video disc as it is inserted or removed from the enclosure. Various means are employed to releasably secure the sleeve within the enclosure.
Efforts to improve the protection of recording discs within an enclosure include the use of a hinged spine with sides that open like a book, such as the digital audio disk enclosure marketed by MCA Records, of Universal City, Calif. A variation of this design approach utilizes a second hinged portion in parallel alignment with the first hinged spine to selectively expose a portion of the recording disc for ease of handling. Such enclosures are expensive to manufacture, require elaborate tooling, and have openings exposed to the environment that allow dust and other particles to enter the recording disc enclosure.
Therefore, what is needed is an attractive, inexpensive enclosure for storing and transporting recording discs that is easy to manufacture, affords a protective environment secure from dust and related particles, is economical to manufacture, and provides for ease of insertion and removal of the recording disc from its enclosure.
Enclosures having a biasing means are known, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,351,435; 3,851,734; 1,214,158; 519,578 and Des. Pat. No. 174,300. However, these enclosures are not readily adaptable for storage of recording discs. They are relatively expensive to manufacture, and do not lend themselves to visual identification of the contents of the enclosure. This is important where the user has a quantity of such enclosures, and therefore needs a way to quickly identify the contents of each enclosure. Many of these enclosures having a biasing means have an internal guide means which provides an internal lip along the opening edge of the enclosure that would interfere with the easy removal of a recording disk from within such an enclosure.